Dubuque, IA Area Governor's Plane Crashes, Apr 1993

Dubuque, Iowa (AP) -- South Dakota Gov. GEORGE MICKELSON, who followed his father's political footsteps to the state Capitol, was killed along with seven other people when their state-owned plane crashed in a rainstorm.

The 52-year-old Republican was on his way back from Cincinnati, where he and other state officials had gone on a lobbying mission to protect jobs at a Sioux Falls, S.D., meatpacking plant.

State flags were lowered Monday night in South Dakota as tearful state employees gathered in the governor's Capitol office to share their grief.

"There are no words to describe the sadness that I and the people of South Dakota feel tonight," Lt. Gov. Walter Dale Miller said in a statement.

Miller, a Republican, was to be sworn in today as South Dakota's 29th governor. He will serve the remaining two years of MICKELSON'S term.

The twin-engine turboprop went down Monday afternoon at a farm 14 miles southwest of Dubuque after the pilot reported engine trouble and was cleared for an emergency landing at the Dubuque Airport. The plane sheared off a silo and crashed through a barn, bursting into flames. No one on the ground was hurt.

"As far as the plane itself is concerned, it's in many pieces, small pieces, pretty much broken up," Sheriff Bob Lyons said.

Heavy rain was reported in the area at the time, but the Federal Aviation Administration said it had not determined if weather was a factor. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were sent to the site.

Mickelson was narrowly elected governor in 1986 and won another four-year term in 1990. His father, George T. Mickelson, was governor of South Dakota from 1947 to 1951.

Kokomo Times Indiana 1993-04-20

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On April 19, 1993 Governor George Mickelson was one of eight people aboard a state-owned airplane returning to South Dakota from a lobbying effort in Ohio. The plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop, reported engine trouble while flying near Dubuque, Iowa and crashed into a farm silo about nine miles south of that city. All aboard the aircraft were killed. After the crash, Mickelson was succeeded as Governor by then-Lieutenant Governor Walter Dale Miller.